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H. H. WESTINGHOUSE. REDUCING CLEARANCE IN STEAM CYLINDERS.

(No Model?) No. 327,630. Patented Oct. 6, 1885.

WITNESSES: 1N VEN 7 OR @iM/w AW JBWKMFM UNTTnn STATES PATENT Orrrca,

H. HERMAN XVESTINGHOUSE, OF NEV YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THEVESTINGHOUSE MACHINE COMPANY, OF PITTSBURG, PA.

REDUCING CLEARANCE IN STEAM-CYLINDERS.

SPECIPICATEON forming part of Letters Patent No. 327,630, dated October6, 1885.

Application filed August 15, 1885. Serial No. 174,478.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, H. HERMAN WEsTING- HoUsE, of the city, county, andState of New York, have invented certain new and useful ImprovementsinMeans for Reducing Clearance in Steam-Engine Cylinders, ofwhichimprovements the following is a specification.

My invention more particularly relates to steam-engines of the class inwhich a single main or distribution valve working in a chest locatedbetween two single-acting cylinders performs the distribution functionsof both of said cylinders; and its object is to reduce, as far aspracticable, the clearance or waste-port space requiring to be filledwith and emptied of steam at each revolution.

To this end my invention, generally stated, consists in the combinationof a steam-cylinder having a clearance-reducing block fixed to its head,a piston which is laterally recessed in correspondence with the face ofthe reducing-block, and a distribution-valve governing a port leadinginto the cylinder adjacent to the end of the reducing-block. Theimprovements claimed are hereinafter fully set forth.

The accompanying drawing is a vertical longitudinal central sectionthrough a steam-engine embodying my invention.

My improvements are herein shown as applied in an engine which otherwiseaccords substantially with that set forth in Reissued Letters Patent No.10,603, granted and issued to the Westinghouse Machine Company, as myassignee, May 26, 1885. Two single'acting cylinders, 1 1, between whichis interposed a valve chest or chamber, 3, are secured upon the top of aclosed crank case or receptacle, 2, having end bearings, 5, in which aremounted the journals of a crank-shaft, 4. The pistons 8 8 of thecylinders l 1 are coupled by connecting-rods 9 9 to crank-pins setoppositely or at an angle of one hundred and eighty degrees upon a pairof double cranks, 10, on the crank-shaft 4. Steam supplied to thevalve-chamber 3 from the boiler is supplied to and exhausted from theupper ends of the cylinders 1 1 by a main or distribution valve, 12,working in a sleeve or bushing, 40, in the valve-chamber, said valvehaving an upper and a lower steam admission and exhaust piston, 38 89,connected by a hollow or tubu- (No model.)

lar body portion, the upper piston, 88, governing a port, 13, leadingfrom the upper portion of the valve-chamber into the left-hand cylinder,and the lower piston, 39, governing a port, 14, leading from thevalvechamber at a lowerlevel than the port 13 into the righthandcylinder. The valve is actuated by an eccentric, 20, to the strap 21 ofwhich it is coupled by an eccentric'rod, 19.

My present invention is designed to effect a reduction of clearance orwaste space in the lower port, 14, which cannot, like the upper port,13, be led directly into the cylinder by reason of the position of itsvalvechest opening relatively to the lower valve-piston, 39, by which itis governed. To this end, in lieu of carrying the port 14 to or near thetop of the cylinder, as in prior constructions, I so far reduce itslength as to bring the lower edge of its opening into the right-handcylinder 1 at or near the level of the upper packingring of the pistonSthereof when said piston is at the upper end of its stroke. The spaceadjacent to the shell of the cylinder, between the upper edge of theport 14 and the cylinderhead 48, is filled up by a clearance-reducingblock, 7 6, which may be cast integral with or secured to thecylinder-head 48 upon its inner side. The top of the piston 8 is cutaway on one side, so as to form a lateral recess, '7 7, corresponding inform with the reducing-block 76, in order that the piston may clear thelatter in traversing to the upper extremity of its stroke, and the faceofthe block 76 is outwardly and downwardly inclined or curved from itsupper to its lower end, in order that the opening for admission of steambetween it and the face of the recess 77 of the piston may, in thedownward traverse of the piston, increase with sufficient rapidity tofulfill the demands of steam-supply. It will be seen that a materialreduction of the length of the port 14 is effected by the aboveconstruction, and a corresponding economy in steam, particularly inhigh-speed engines, results from the consequent diminution of clearancein the port.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. Thecombination of a steam-cylinderhaving a clearance-reducing block fixedto its head, and extending therefrom to or near the opening IOC of asteam-supply port, and a piston Working in said cylinder and laterallycut away or recessed, so as to work close to and clear of said block inits traverse in the cylinder, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of a steamcylinder, a clearance-reducing block fixedto a head of the cylinder and having an inclined or curved faceextending from said head to or near the opening of a steam-supply port,and a piston Working in said cylinder and having a lateral recessinclined or curved in conformity with the face of the reducing block,substantially as set forth.

8. The combination of a pair of steam-cylinders, an intermediate valvechest or chamber, a main distributionvalve Working there in, a portleading from the end of one cylinder directly or in substantially aright line into the valvechamber and governed by a piston I-I. H.VESTINGHOUSE.

lVitnesses:

J. SNoWDEN BELL, G. \V. XVILLIAMs;

